It's Been Far Too Long
by Red Dye Number Three
Summary: AU Drabble; Axel plays piano for Roxas in a church basement.


Yep. I return again. Got bored, got slightly angry at my internet service, and got hungry for an unnamed food (WHY CAN'T I THINK OF IT?!?!), so I just decided to write a drabble. About Axel playing a piano. Nice, huh?

**D'CLAIM'R: **I don't own Axel, Roxas, a church, the battle scene between Tifa and Loz in FFVII: AC, or the Cable-Nelson brand of pianos. The name isn't specifically mentioned, but it's what I have, so it's what I was thinking of. I have to put that in there so the thought police don't bust me.

* * *

It's Been Far Too Long, My Sweet

He slowly ambled forward, eyeing the name of the maker engraved in a squared script. It was nothing he had heard of before, but this was understandable, since he only associated with the best. After all, this was an upright piano, and Axel, being better than _that,_ only had desire for the finer things. However, there was always room to make exceptions.

Lightly running a fingertip across the lid, he only collected dust. Clicking his tongue, he spoke to the other occupant of the church basement. "How long has it been since somebody gave this old girl a proper cleaning?"

The boy he addressed looked up, shrugging his shoulders. "Dunno. The room is only ever used for staff meetings, and none of them ever bother to clean all that well down here, so… probably since it was brought down here." He sat in an old pew that had been cracked in the middle, compromising the safety of the structure. The boy's weight was no issue for the seat, which held fast.

"Pity… She must have sounded wonderful back in her hay day." He played a few arpeggios in various keys, testing the tuning. For a piano in such care (or lack thereof), the tuning was prime. Eyebrows quirked in surprise, he turned his head to the boy and smiled. "Does _anybody_ in here play with her? She sounds as perfect as the day she was made, like she was never used at all."

"The organist only comes in on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and she only plays the organ in the main hall, so I'd guess that you're one of the first to show it any love." He watched little specs of dust rise in angry flurries as Axel's fingers started to tap out a quiet melody. "Will you please play something I can hear? I didn't bring you down here special just to watch you kick up my allergies. I brought you here because I found it just for you." His fingers gestured in a circle at the dust.

Chuckling, Axel pulled out the bench to sit on it, discovering that it doubled as a small chest. Inside was only sheet music of hymns, which held no interest for either body. The chest was promptly closed and resumed its duty as a bench. The redhead sat, cracked his knuckles in preparation, and placed his fingers on the (surprisingly) stark white keys. He turned his head to the boy, speaking once before playing. "To Roxas, my good friend and partner in crime."

Quickly, he started into a complicated piece at a presto rate. The notes were short, staccato and accented, but flowing all the same. Roxas blinked in time with three particularly potent notes in succession, making him giggle. Axel paused, ceasing the music to stare at the blond. "What the hell was that about? I was in the middle of playing!"

"It's nothing; just keep going. It's been far too long since I've heard somebody play this well. I'm overdue, even." He settled a little more comfortably into the pew, noting how it creaked in protest to his movement. Axel resumed his piece, picking back up at the three powerful notes and pressing forward. In the back of his mind, Roxas could've sworn that he had heard the song before, in a dream. He closed his eyes, drinking in the music that floated off of the soundboard and out of the instrument. They had arrived at the part of the song where it was slower, more mournful, but even more powerful, in a way. Roxas imagined that it was music to battle to, and this was where the fight had really gotten going. The fighters were pulling out all the stops, doing everything and anything to succeed.

Elaborately dressed figures in black leather were leaping and throwing elegant punches. The smaller figure made an impressive jump and landed on a wall, defying gravity and frustrating the larger fighter. It all played along with the song, perfectly illustrated in his head. But before Roxas could process it, the song had ended. He was left on the pew, eyes closed and fingers drumming out the rhythm of the chorus on his thighs.

Axel moved from the bench to the pew, hearing it creak and whine even louder than before. Not giving it a chance to collapse, the redhead scooped up Roxas' small form and relocated them both to a stronger, more stable pew.

Eyeing the redhead, Roxas finally spoke. "It really has been much too long."

Staring at the ceiling, Axel replied. "Yeah… it has."

* * *

Like my little Snagglepuss line? Yeah, SNL has been screwing with my head. Oh; the song that Axel plays is _Those Who Fight _-slash- _Tatakau Mono Tachi [Piano Version] _by the immensely talanted Nobuo Uematsu. I had the sheet music lying around, so I decided to just use that and Tifa/Loz's battle scene in the church. It's a nice song, I assure you, and I advise you to listen to it. In fact, the first time I heard it (when I was watching the movie with my ex-), I actually said "I need to get the sheet music to that." And I did. It's a lot harder to play than it sounds. Seriously, the key signature is a bitch to read, even. It's also accidental heavy and it goes really fast.

This is un'beta'd, since mine was too tired to say anything good. I'll probably fix it up nicely tomorrow and revise it, so keep a look out in the summary for the little note.

To wrap things up, it'd be kickass if you were to review. I'm really not expecting much at all, since the only thing that gets decent reviews is either 50.000-plus words or AkuRoku smut (DOES THIS LOOK LIKE EITHER OF THOSE?!). Regardless, it's a nice little bright spot in my day when I see good things in my inbox.


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